The Delhi government’s scheme for SC students taking various competitive exams, including IAS, is set to expand with a hike in financial assistance per student from Rs 40,000 to up to Rs 1.5 lakh, a larger kitty of private institutes, and extension of coaching duration to one year.

The scheme, ‘Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana’, was launched in December 2017. Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam told The Indian Express that the expansion of the scheme is likely to get Cabinet approval this week. Students whose total family income is not more than Rs 6 lakh per annum are eligible for coaching under the scheme.

In 2018-19, 4,953 students had availed coaching from eight empanelled institutes under the scheme, including 945 UPSC aspirants and 3,100 SSC candidates. The number of engineering and medical aspirants were 47 and 58 each, out of which 13 students qualified for JEE MAIN and 22 students cleared NEET.

Currently, the ceiling of financial assistance is Rs 40,000. Gautam said that after the Cabinet nod, UPSC aspirants will get an assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh, engineering and medical aspirants will get Rs 1 lakh each. For bank PO and related exams, it will be Rs 50,000 and SSC aspirants will get Rs 25,000 aid each. Apart from financial assistance towards coaching, beneficiaries are also paid a stipend of Rs 2,500.

“During a review, we realised that not many coaching institutes were showing interest… Institutes pointed out that the four-month coaching duration was too short and the assistance amount also needed to be raised. So we made changes…,” Gautam said.

For 2019-20, an allocation of Rs 40 crore has been made for the scheme. Gautam said the government is also likely to soon clear a scheme for funding higher education of SC students abroad.